jakefromflorida

I recently purchased a 19' kenner bay boat. Other then a few flaws here and there, I love the boat.

one thing that aggravates me is the constant aggravation of being wet all the time from run off. There's a small hole for the motor wiring harness to enter into the hull, but it has a lip to prevent the water from falling below deck.

so I'm debating buying some ss drains and cutting some holes in my boat! I know a scary thought... Can anyone give me some insight or suggestions? thanks.

manitunc

Pic of the area you want to put drain in?

jakefromflorida

manitunc, I'll have to get one tomorrow. its going to take some planning, but maybe you guys could help me with exact locations... it might take 2 at least....

OReely

I'm not very clear on what you are trying to do. Drain cockpit? Something else? What has the engine wiring have to do with the story? Pics would definitely help.

surv

I don't suggest cutting holes in the deck to install drains. If you are trying to drain the deck I would cut two holes ( one on each side) in the transom. This would make it a self bailing deck. If you do this make sure you install a good quality through hull adapter to completely seal it. Normally you would put a ball scupper on the outside of the boat. Lots of bay boats are drained like this, you should be able to find plenty of pics online.

jakefromflorida

ok sorry for the confusion but here we go...

the boat has two side drains, but there isn't a self bailer/ball bailer installed; just a through hull flange.

water will build up, but can't drain because of the lip you see on the hole where the wiring harness goes in... so thats where the wiring harness part came into conversation............


So my thinking is, install something for the water to drain through the floor into the hull where the bilge can pump it out. because of now, everytime I go to use it, it may have just a inch or two of water left on the deck and as soon as i launch boat, im constantly stand in water.....

Laid back

Be careful on the edges. Tried it on a key west of mine and and the sides were full of foam. Should have known better. Had to repair and put 1 drain In the center. The center of my boat didn't have foam because that was the trench for the fuel lines and electrical going up front. Try to find this on yours before you start drilling

jakefromflorida

awesome, thanks for the tip off...

that could have been bad for me!

beyondhelp

Are the side drains above water when running? It sounds to me like you're trying to eliminate the self bailing feature. Unless I am mistaken.

I have the same thing on the sides of my Hewes. My routine is - plug holes, back boat in water - remove plugs when on plane and then replace when the water is gone. repeat as necessary. (my plugs are worn out and could stand to be replaced so they leak)

jakefromflorida

Beyond, it's kind a pita with the screw plugs I have, especially by myself. I guess I can try to install the self bailing plugs? Also, the holes are still a little too high to drain all the water.

surv

The ball scuppers are not very dry. If there is water coming in (spray) it would function correctly to let out water but not let more in. However, if there's no water coming in then they let a little bit in at a time just from the boat rocking and the deck is wet after a while. I normally put a rubber plug on the inside to seal them completely.

You may not want to drill more holes but, another hole right at the top of the deck would work correctly. The way it is the water would have to be 1/2" deep or better to drain out. If you move over 6" from the other one I dont think you would have any trouble with the "extra" holes. If they bother you its not hard to fill the old ones.

surv

I agree that the drain in the floor would probably take care of the problem but I think it will lead to others. If you were actually taking on a lot of spray all the water would drain to the bilge area instead of bailing off the deck. It wouldn't take much to have more water coming in then what the bilge would handle.

jakefromflorida

Surv, i couldn't quite imagine what you were trying to describe... Where exactly are you saying to install drain?

Right now i notice the problem because of shrimping, naturally throwing the cast net lots of water enters the boat. But normally yes, its just spray, or what was left in boat from day before. I also plan on installing a second bigger bilge next to the current one installed.

what additional problems do you think will be created by draining the water below deck?

thanks

surv

I just meant that if the holes in the transom were lower than they would work. So you could drill two more that were lower.

If you put the drain in the deck then I think the scuppers are more or less useless, because the water is going to drain (to bilge) before it gets to the scuppers.

What type of drain are you thinking to put in the deck? If you drain it through the deck then how are you going to get it flush so you don't have the same problem as now?